Intercropping of corn with soybean and lupin for silage: Effect of seeding date on yield and quality

Intercropping of corn with legumes is an alternative to corn monocropping and has a number of advantages, for example, lower levels of inputs, lower costs of production and better silage quality than the monocrop system. An experiment was carried out at two sites in 1993 and 1994 to investigate the effects of seeding date (simultaneous with corn or 3 weeks later) and number of rows of large-seeded legumes (one or two) seeded between the corn rows. The intercrop plots received 90 kg ha(-1) less nitrogen fertilizer than the monocrop plots, which received 180 kg ha(-1). Silage yields were sometimes decreased by the simultaneous seeding of corn and large-seeded legumes. Protein content and concentration were not affected by most treatments and provided reasonable quality silage, despite a reduction in the amount of nitrogen fertilizer used.